9:32 a.m. | Updated with interview with Mr. Gleacher
Eric J. Gleacher, a veteran deal maker who participated in the fight over RJR Nabisco, said on Tuesday that he would leave the investment bank he founded about 23 years ago.
The departure of Mr. Gleacher as chairman comes months after his struggling firm hired Credit Suisse to explore a sale.
Gleacher & Company disclosed last month that the Nasdaq stock market had initiated a move to delist the investment bank, after its stock price lingered below $1 for months. The firm is appealing the decision.
Mr. Gleacher, 72, told DealBook in an interview on Tuesday that his decision was prompted in part by finishing work on the sale of Archstone, a massive real estate company once owned by Lehman Brothers. Since the deal was announced in late November, he has been approached by a number of companies seeking advice, and he is weighing opportunities to essentially become a freelance adviser.
“As the business model on Wall Street changes, I’m looking forward to working with C.E.O.’s and investors in helping them realize their goals,” he said. “I’m looking forward to doing so in an independent manner.”
(He has been contemplating a move for some time, having put up his Manhattan town house for sale earlier this month.)
Mr. Gleacher, a former Marine and long one of Wall Street’s top golfers, founded his company after having become one of the top deals bankers on Wall Street during the 1980s. He founded the mergers department at Lehman Brothers in 1978, and then led Morgan Stanley‘s deal team from 1985 to 1990.
He then founded his firm, maintaining it for years as an independent merger advisory shop. He sold it to the British bank Natwest in 1995, but bought it back four years later.
Mr. Gleacher and his partners decided in 2009 to sell their business to Broadpoint Securities, a small brokerage, giving rise to the current Gleacher & Company. But the firm struggled, burdened with rising regulatory constraints and tepid deal activity.
Under Thomas Hughes, Gleacher & Company’s chief executive, the investment bank has sold off businesses in an attempt to revive its flagging fortunes. In the fall, the firm explored a potential sale to a larger concern, Stifel Financial, but the talks fell apart over price, according to people briefed on the matter.
It is unclear whether the investment bank is still pursuing a sale. Mr. Hughes suggested in a statement that the firm continued to weigh its options.
“We will continue to grow our M.&A. and capital-raising capabilities in line with the vision we have described previously, a vision that Eric helped author,” Mr. Hughes said. “On behalf of the company, I want to wish Eric the best in his future endeavors.”
While striking off on his own will allow him more personal time, Mr. Gleacher added that he intended to keep busy.
“To me, retirement is just time allocation,” he said. “I’ve always just enjoyed what I’ve done.”
DealBook: Gleacher to Leave His Investment Bank
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DealBook: Gleacher to Leave His Investment Bank
